Donald Trump based his campaign on returning to the "America First" foreign policy platform. He emphasized that the US could no longer be the world's policeman and promised that there would be no new wars during his term.
However, since winning a second term, Trump has increasingly promoted a new imperialist agenda, threatening to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland - perhaps even militarily - and announcing economic pressure on Canada to become the 51st US state.
“Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You would eliminate that artificially drawn line and see what it would look like. Also, it would be much better for national security," Trump said of the world's longest international border and the US's second largest trading partner.

The story of the undermining of sovereign borders and the use of military force against allies and NATO members - even told in jest - represents a stunning break with decades-old norms of territorial integrity. Analysts warn that such rhetoric may embolden America's enemies, suggesting the US is now tolerating the use of force to redraw borders as Russia continues to invade Ukraine and China threatens Taiwan, which it considers its territory.
"If I were Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping, this would be music to my ears," said John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, who later became one of his critics and served as the US ambassador to the United Nations.
Trump's narrative, which reflects a 19th-century worldview that was a hallmark of European colonial powers, comes as international allies are already trying to contain the fallout from his return to the global stage.
Gerald Bates, a former chief advisor to outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his longtime close friend, said Trump now appears even bolder than when he first took office in 2017.
"I think he feels much less constrained now than before. There are no restrictions. This is Trump at its best," said Bats.
Bats is part of a WhatsApp group of former associates of world leaders from Trump's first term. "One of them jokingly said that the biggest fear last time was that Trump didn't know what he was doing, and now the biggest fear is that he does," Batts recounted.
Testosterone energy
Trump's haughty rhetoric is a continuation of the kind of "testosterone energy" that has become a trademark of his campaign, especially as he tried to win over younger male voters through guest appearances on popular podcasts.
Charlie Kirk, a key Trump ally who visited Greenland this Sunday with Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said on his podcast Wednesday that it was critical for the US to take control of Greenland. This territory is an autonomous part of Denmark, a longtime ally of the USA and one of the founding members of NATO.
In addition to Greenland's strategic location in the Arctic and its rich natural resources, Kirk stressed that "there is that other component." "It's reawakening the American dream, that we're no longer sad, low-testosterone, beta males hunched over in chairs, letting the world run over us," Kirk said.
“It's the resurrection of the male American energy. It's the return of Manifest Destiny," added Kirk, whose organization Turning Point is playing a key role in Trump's voter mobilization campaign.
(The term “Manifest Destiny” refers to the 19th century belief in the US that American settlers were destined to spread westward across North America).
Negotiation tactics or made-up threats?
Trump's allies have long argued that his arrogance and boldest statements are part of complex negotiating tactics. His colleagues point out that almost half of American container ships pass through the Panama Canal, and that the key ports of the canal are controlled by a company from Hong Kong.

Greenland is home to US Air Force Base Pitufik, the northernmost US military base, which plays a key role in missile warning and space surveillance. At the same time, China and Russia are investing in the Arctic, while new potential shipping lanes are opening up due to the melting of the ice sheet.
Canada, as Trump's team notes, spends far less on defense than its southern neighbor.
"Every decision by President Trump was made in the best interest of the United States and the American people. That's why President Trump has pointed to legitimate security and economic concerns regarding Canada, Greenland and Panama," said Carolyn Levitt, spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team.
However, Michael McFaul, a former Obama administration ambassador to Russia who now heads the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University and is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, warned that Trump's rhetoric is harming US national security interests.
"President Trump takes office at one of the most dangerous times in American history," McFaul said. "The best way to face these threats is through cooperation with allies. Allies are our superpower. That's why I would like him to focus on real threats and not invent new ones.”
The Allies resent it
Trump's "trolling" is not a negotiating move by a "mad genius" and will have consequences, McFaul said. "The world has serious enemies and adversaries, and we'd rather have the Canadians and the Danes be with us than be angry with us," he said.
Indeed, Canadian officials reacted angrily.
"This is not funny," said Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's finance minister and chief official for relations with the US. "I think it's his way of trying to cause confusion, upset people and create chaos, knowing that it's never going to happen."
On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sarcastically to another Trump proposal - to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America". Standing in front of an old map, she joked that North America should be renamed "América Mexicana," or "Mexican America," because an 1814 founding document that preceded the Mexican constitution used that term.
"That sounds nice, doesn't it?" she said.
Denmark and Panama responded similarly. Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Aca said: "The sovereignty of our canal", which the country has controlled for more than 25 years, "is not a subject for negotiation and is part of our history of struggle and irreversible victory".
The purpose of the threats?
Mike O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said he was surprised by Trump's recent comments, given his previously relatively low interest in the use of force.
Although Trump boasted that he had a bigger and more powerful "nuclear button" than North Korea and ordered the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Suleimani during his first term, in the campaign he presented himself as a president who had not started any new wars and who could prevent World War III.
O'Hanlon pointed out that NATO members are sworn to defend each other in the event of an attack, which would create an unprecedented situation if Trump actually tried to take over Greenland by force.
"A strong argument can be made that the rest of NATO would be obliged to come to the defense of Denmark," he said. "It opens up the possibility, as crazy as it may be, of direct military force."
Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, has long criticized Trump for his lack of a coherent policy strategy, saying his approach is "transactional, ad hoc, erratic and viewed solely through the lens of what helps Donald Trump."
Bolton said Trump has never liked Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and apparently enjoys provoking the Canadian leader as he criticizes the trade imbalance between the two countries. Canada, rich in natural resources, sells more goods to the United States than it buys.
However, Bolton warned that Trump's expansionist statements about Canada and Greenland are likely to be counterproductive.
"When you do things that make it less likely that you'll achieve your goals, that's not masterful negotiation — that's insanity," Bolton said.
Prepared by: NB
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